How to Have a Better Christmas: Don’t Forget to Wait

As we begin the second week of Advent, we are reminded again of this time of anticipation. I must admit, there was a time where it was spiritually and mentally difficult for me to fully embark on the Advent Journey. Don’t get me wrong, I loved and appreciated the coming of Christ. Yet there is something about this season I had not fully grasped, something about it that made it difficult to appreciate the excitement of Advent.

The Solution is in the Anticipation

This problem plagued me for many years. Why was I not fully partaking in the spirit of Advent? Then I realized it was obvious: I wasn’t fully embracing Advent, because, I, like the rest of the world, wanted Christmas to come even earlier.

Advent is concealed, hidden away from a world that cannot wait. The world’s celebration of Christmas advances sooner and sooner each year — not because of Christ, but rather for products.

When Advent is Forgotten

Stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day for Christmas shopping; an irony, considering that gifts are supposed to represent love we have for friends and family. Yet on a day meant for families to be together to build that love, the lure of products keeps them apart. Cardinal Timothy Dolan expressed this as a time of “a further descent into a highly privatized, impersonal, keep-people-at-a-distance culture, one that values having stuff and doing things over just being with people whom we love, cherish and appreciate.”

This was indeed my mindset when I was a younger. At that time, Christmas meant presents, a long break from school, and eggnog. As I grew more in my faith, I started to fall in love more with the real meaning of Christmas. Despite that, I still had difficulty growing in the spirit of Advent. Why? I had to learn the value of patience.

The Beauty of Being Ready

Good things come to those who wait. Just as a dating or engaged couple abstaining from physical intimacy continually offers that up and, through that, grows in love day by day — until the glorious splendor and bliss of their marriage unites them in body and soul, so too is the time of Advent meant to bring us closer in excitement and love to greet the One who is Love. When Advent is decreased, Christmas is decreased. Advent is a time of preparation; I like to compare it to the season of Lent in anticipation for Easter Sunday. In our Advent time, we can sacrifice in order to grow. As a community, we sacrifice the beautiful prayer of the Gloria (“Glory to God in the highest…”). In our personal faith, we can fast and pray.

In this time of preparation, the Church offers numerous holy days to shape our anticipation. How disappointing it is for the secular world to only know one day of the holiday: December 25th, the first day of Christmas. The Catholic Church has the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the Feast of Saint Lucy, Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent), and the Hispanic tradition of posadas. These days help advance our salvation narrative, culminating in the arrival of our Savior. There are also the candles on the wreaths, the readings during Mass, the hymns in our songbooks which separate Advent music from Christmas music. Advent is the gem of waiting; the gem that propels Christmas to be understood as fully special and unique. Christmas is so magnificent, it has to be prepared for.

United with Mary

In conclusion, I invite you to share in the beauty of Advent with the Virgin Mary. I am in awe when I reflect on the beauty of Our Virgin Mother bearing God in her womb. I often wonder what she was thinking during that preparation. Perhaps she imagined how her Son would look, maybe what activities she would like to do with Him. Mary experienced the first Advent. We too are eagerly anticipating His Second Coming. Let us continue this season in hope and anticipation. Happy Advent.

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About Pilgrim Center Of Hope

The Pilgrim Center of Hope is a Catholic evangelization ministry in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Our mission is to guide individuals, families and neighborhoods toward finding a deeper relationship with Christ through evangelization (living and sharing the faith).

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